COMMUNITY FORUM

missing steam trap?

Most of my house has one pipe steam radiators. In one room however the radiator was replaced with a 15' long cast iron baseboard with two pipes. It has a dry return made out of 3/4" copper that makes a long horizontal run near the basement ceiling and then a return riser that connects to the end of the wet return for the rest of the system. The return riser connects near the Hartford loop. The radiator does have an air vent but there is no steam trap. I do get some water hammer and am wondering if the lack of a steam trap could be the cause. Should I add a steam trap and move the air vent to the dry return?

Thanks for your answer. It sounds like I don't need a separate steam trap and there is already a water trap. Did you say the pitch should be 1' in 20'? (one foot of rise for every 20 feet of run?) There is some pitch but definitely a lot less than that. Would that be about 3 degrees?